Diversity as a Christian Practice

When I look around my congregation, it's not all that diverse. It's not intentional, it's just the way things are. We're kind of older and pretty much white. We'd like to be more diverse and at times we've been more diverse. It's just that right now the population of this small congregation is sort of older and sort of white. But we've been singing in Spanish if that counts for anything!

My friend Diana Butler Bass wrote about her experiences at a United Methodist Conference. Gathered were representatives of various churches from across Northern California and Nevada. Among those gathered were representatives of the congregations of peoples from the Global South. She shares the joys of the conversations as people explored together what it means to be church in this new globalized context. It was mentioned that some of our philosophical analysis (postmodern vs. modern) is a rather western phenomenon.

She speaks here of diversity as practice rather than program:

And it demonstrated to me the power of diversity as a Christian practice. If their diversity was merely a "program" of the denomination, it would breed resentment and suspicion. But the level of trust in the room (we even talked about trust) indicated that their diversity went far beyond program—that it is a genuine attempt to enact Christian community in bringing together humankind through Jesus Christ. Their diversity was a practice of faith, an action that Christian people do for the sake of God in the world.

It is intentional and yet it's also organic. I know that the mixing of communities is still in its infancy stages, but perhaps the church can be the harbinger of a better way of living together!

Thanks Diana for the prod to practice faith in a new way.